


grind to the rhythm (as we wine and dine)

by kishere



Series: helpless [3]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Arranged Marriage, Cunnilingus, First Time, Knotting, M/M, Omega!Phil, alpha!Dan, miscommunication and misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:26:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24989032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kishere/pseuds/kishere
Summary: God, everyone was going to think him a harlot, Phil thought as they walked out of the maze in silence. Being left alone with an alpha he wasn’t mated to was cause for gossip.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: helpless [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799644
Comments: 21
Kudos: 111





	1. oh, look at those eyes

**Author's Note:**

> thank you profusely to [itsmyusualphannie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsmyusualday/pseuds/itsmyusualphannie) for betaing.
> 
> your girl is back at it again, avoiding writing anything of substance, because i am having a nervous breakdown. if there is a part from this series you'd be interested to read, let me know and i'll see where i can shoehorn it in. this is the first fic in forever i haven't written a outline for and it feels glorious. I am feral for this fic.

Summer was rapidly becoming Phil’s least favourite season. When he lived in Rawstenwall, he used to have long shirts in a lighter fabric during the summer. However, when Phil had been working on his wardrobe for the upcoming year, he had foolishly started with winter and had run out of time to make some spring or summer clothing that were good enough for court. Instead of something light and airy like the fine silk shirts he saw other men wearing, he was weighed down with heavier fabrics. Curse his hubris! He had denied his father’s offer to hire seamstresses to help him build a wardrobe for court and now he was suffering for it. 

But the heavy shirts had _nothing_ on the metal chastity collar Dan had presented him about six days ago. 

Phil’s neck was perspiring so much, he was sure that the damned chastity collar would grow corroded and be stuck around his neck forever. He bet Daniel would enjoy that, Phil thought bitterly as he wiggled a nail under the metal and pulled it away from his neck. The slim space it created did nothing to help his sweltering neck. He let out a quiet curse, causing Lady Pentland to turn to him. Lady Wynn (whose given name was Natalie) was back in his chambers, her nose stuck in a book and refusing to move. 

“M’lord?” Lady Pentland, (Louise, Phil thought, his chest growing warm at how quickly they had bonded over the past week) asked. 

“I apologise,” Phil said. “It’s just so hot.” 

“It is pretty warm today,” Louise agreed. Her eyes darted down to Phil’s attire and back up. “Do you have a lighter shirt m’lord?”

“No,” Phil intoned as they made their way through the castle hallway. 

Louise should know he didn’t. She had done most of the unpacking in his quarters, a large red room with a huge window that looked upon the gardens and a door that connected to Daniel’s chambers. All he had that was breathable were his linens, but he couldn’t run around in his underclothes! Maybe he could go back and undress in his chambers and try to breathe... no, no he shouldn’t. He had to do a round of the castle and work on learning who does what. 

It had been the ‘game’ he had been playing all week since Daniel had been stuck in his chambers, working with his tutors on statecraft. 

(Phil wondered if they had tutors for how to run a household and if he could sit in on them because he felt like he was doing a terrible job.)

Phil had woken up today, hopeful he would get to see his husband for the first time since they had arrived in Reading. They saw each other at dinner but he had not asked Phil to his room or to escort him around the gardens or to spend _any_ time at all with Phil. It was confusing to Phil. He tried to ignore the voice in the back of his head that said Dan didn’t want this marriage, but with every day he didn’t see his new husband, he worried his days at court were numbered. He was sure annulment was coming soon and -

“M’lord?” Lady Pentland cut into his thoughts. “Do you have somewhere in particular you wish to go?”

“Oh, yes, the kitchens,” Phil explained. 

Lady Pentland raised an eyebrow.

“I want to get to know the staff better,” Phil explained as he walked through the halls. 

Lady Pentland hummed. “Including the kitchen staff?”

“Yes,” Phil said simply. When Phil lived in Rawstenwall, he knew the name of everyone on the estate. While the court at Reading was significantly bigger, more servants plus all the lords and ladies that had accompanied the prince, Phil wanted to have that same feeling of security. He wanted to know everything that was going on at all times. He had to, to prove to Dan he hadn’t made a mistake in choosing Phil over the princesses from Spain or the dauphin of France or a countess from Germany. “I just need to figure out how to get to the kitchens.”

Lady Pentland nodded and stopped to ask a beta servant in Howell livery walking by to take them to the kitchens. The servant stared between the two. 

“Are you trying to request a meal, m’lord?” the servant asked. “I would be happy to relay a message to the cooks.”

“No, I just want to meet the cooks,” Phil said, feeling both hot and exasperated. Why was everyone so surprised he wanted to meet the cooks? Or the gardeners? Or his husband’s staff? He was to be the one running the household after all! But he made sure to keep a smile on his face and not raise his voice, managing to push out a stiff sort of laughter; his mother would be ashamed if he was anything less than polite. 

The servant raised an eyebrow but led them to the kitchens. By the time they had arrived, Phil had learned his name was Robert, he was married to ‘a fine woman’ named Rebecca, and they were expecting their second child soon. Phil felt himself brush a hand over his own stomach and reminded himself to send another prayer to Danu tonight. Maybe also one to Aengus, the god of love, because praying to Danu could only get him so far if Daniel wasn’t interested in him.

The first thing upon entering the kitchens is that Phil felt his already verifiably sweltering body raise a couple more degrees still, a feat he didn’t think was possible. He wasn’t even standing by any of the stoves that lined the entire wall, but he was scorching hot. The second thing he noticed was the absolute madness of it all. There were young teens keeping eyes on spits of meat over the stoves while others ran back and forth while older members of the staff shouted orders from the counters. 

“More thyme!”

“Lad, I ought to beat you for bringing me a rotted onion!”

“That fire better not go out or you’ll be on the streets!”

Two of the men cutting up cabbage were squabbling and pointing their knives at each other while making a point. Others were rapidly chopping. 

“Wow,” Phil whispered. The scent was so thick with food (or they only employed betas) that Phil couldn’t pick up on any singular scent signifiers to tell what dynamics were working. Phil was brought out of his thoughts by someone bumping into him from behind. 

“Oh for fuck’s sakes! Get out of the doorway!” The body cursed up a storm, bending over to pick up a broken platter that had previously had bread on it. 

“I’m sorry,” Phil said and scooted over time the side of the kitchen away from the stoves but was shooed further into the kitchens where he could “get the fuck out of the way.” Louise said she would go wait in the hall since she was feeling faint but Robert and Phil moved inward.

Past the room with the delectable meat smells was another hot room but this time filled with people baking bread; Phil could see two different kinds just from walking in and noticed a variety of pastries as well, littering the counter. At the head of one table, aggressively kneading bread, a woman looked up. 

“What do you want?” She asked, a touch unkindly, but with an accent that sounded even more Northern than Phil. 

“Hello, my name is Philip Lester,” Phil said, smiling. “I’m - ”

“ - here to beg for a seat at our table for your lord? Unfortunately, m’lord,” she said with an accompanying sneer, “we’re already having troubles keeping up with the court the prince has brought. You’ll have to feed your master yourself.”

“Oh, that’s terrible,” Phil exclaimed. He didn’t realisze they didn’t have enough food to go around the castle. Was this normal? What did he even do to fix that? He didn’t want anyone going hungry. 

The cook rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips, her stance screaming alpha from the proud line of her back to the determined look on her face. “Aye, it’s real terrible to have a _twmffat_ come into my kitchen and beg for food like a dog and then have the audacity - ”

Robert cleared his throat next to Phil. “Actually Margaret, this is Philip - ”

“He said his name!” 

“ - Howell,” Robert continued, as if Margaret’s outburst didn’t happen. “This is Prince Daniel’s husband.” 

Margaret looked between Robert and Phil before bursting out into laughter. “Very funny, Robert. Why would a prince need to come down to the kitchens?”

“He...wanted to meet everyone,” Robert explained, not making eye contact with Phil.

“Oh, you’ll need a better excuse than that. Playtime is over, I have a lot of work to be done,” Margaret said before looking away from them and going back to her kneading. “Get out of my kitchen.”

Phil couldn’t move. _Was_ going around and introducing himself to the servants that strange? Was he committing a large faux pas and embarrassing his husband? He finally gave his low omega bow. “Thank you, Alpha Margaret. This has been enlightening.” 

He heard a derisive snort of laughter from Margaret but Phil turned to leave with Robert, ducking through boys and girls running around the larger kitchen. As he made it into the hallway, he stopped in front of Louise, who was leaning back against the wall, probably trying to absorb its coolness. 

“How were the cooks, m’lord?” Louise asked with an excited smile. “Did they ply you with sweets?”

Phil shook his head, biting the inside of his cheek. “They were too busy for me,” he said with a smile. 

Louise frowned. “Even the head chef?”

“Yes,” Phil cut in quickly. “I’m actually feeling a tad tired from the whole affair. Robert, could you escort us back to my quarters?”

“Aye,” Robert said simply. He didn’t try to dispute Phil’s story. Someday he’d remember this moment and advance Robert, but for now, he just wanted to escape his shame. 

“Thank you,” Phil said, before linking his left arm through Louise’s right and following Robert back to his quarters.

When they made it to their room, Phil collapsed face-first on the bed, wincing as the metal of his collar dug slightly into his neck. It was so hard trying to get the household to acknowledge him this week. But he was slowly learning and surely that progress counted for something? He rolled over onto his back before sitting up, the only way the cursed collar was comfortable. 

“How did it go?” Natalie asked from the corner, where papers were spread all around her. 

“It was fine. They were too busy to talk so maybe another day,” Phil said blandly. Natalie raised an eyebrow but turned back to her work. 

“What are you working on?” Phil asked. 

“I’m translating a poem for your husband,” Natalie said. 

Phil felt his blood run cold. Was this the reason Dan did not wish to mark him? Was he taken by the lovely Natalie? She had beautiful blonde hair and was knowledgeable. Plus they discussed poetry, apparently, Phil thought as his heart throbbed uncomfortably. 

Phil felt his scent rotting but he didn’t care, instead, he got off the bed and went to sit in front of Natalie. “What kind of a poem?”

“A Greek poem written by Plato about Socrates,” Natalie explained. 

“Who is Socrates?” Phil asked. 

“He was a philosopher in Greece. An alpha,” Natalie said, before pausing in her writing to look at Phil with a half-smile. “Maybe if you’re good, I’ll teach you about him.” 

Phil felt himself start to pout until he heard a knock at the door. He didn’t move to get it, since the last time he had, Louise had scolded him because it wasn’t befitting his station. However, he turned when he heard Louise walk behind him instead of to the side. 

The knock had come from the connecting door. Phil sprang up and looked at Natalie wildly. “How do I look?”

“Moist,” Natalie said, pulling a handkerchief from her bosom and stood up to dab at Phil’s face. It was very kind for someone who owned his husband’s heart to do this. 

Phil turned when he heard the door open and resisted the urge to smile when he saw Lady Pentland lean into the door and whisper quietly with a beta that Phil remembered from his and Dan’s first (and only) shared night together. Phil felt himself start to flush at the memory. Lady Pentland turned away from the man smiling though and shut the door. 

“What news?” Phil asked, looking between the door and Louise as sneakily as he could.

“Do you have any other plans for the day, m’lord?” Louise asked and Phil rapidly shook his head. “Then Prince Daniel would like to escort you around the gardens for a spell.”

Phil bit his lower lip to try and hide a smile. He wasn’t coming to see Natalie’s poetry, he wanted to walk around the gardens with Phil. His joy must have shown on his face for Louise gave him a knowing smile before turning to his wardrobe and started digging into it. 

“Let’s see if we can’t find you something a tad lighter,” Louise said, looking through the wardrobe, her eyebrows coming together the longer she looked. “Is this really all you brought?” 

Phil thought it was a perfectly acceptable amount of clothing...for a winter wardrobe. He had a few different long shirts and enough smocks for every day of the week plus one to wear on laundry day. He had warm nightgowns and even included one dress for the winter solstice, even though he didn’t particularly enjoy them. He knows some omegas that really enjoyed the more ‘feminine’ side of their gender but he personally preferred his long shirts (a cross between a shirt and a dress that reached his knees) worn over hoses. He heard Louise gasp, looking up from one of the few remaining trunks on the floor. 

“Oh Phil, why didn’t you say you had a gown?” 

“You’ve seen my nightgowns, Louise,” Phil said with a laugh that choked off. 

What Louise was holding in her hand was not a nightgown. That gown wasn’t something he had packed, he thought, as he looked upon it. It was a beautiful green colour with a large swatch of gold on the middle and golden thread running through the sleeves. It had a square neckline that Phil knew would show the embroidery he had added to his smocks and his one kirtle’s neckline. He walked over and felt the fabric, letting out a sigh of relief at how light and airy it felt. The cloth had been excellently made; even with a petticoat and his kirtle, he would be able to breathe properly. 

Pil saw a piece of paper flutter to the ground as Louise held up the gown for him to admire. Phil bent down to pick it up and saw his mother’s handwriting on it. He scanned the letter, which explained she snuck the gown in there as a wedding present and so Phil would have something to wear for the summer solstice. Phil felt himself long for his mother’s foresight and presence.

“Louise, could you let Prince Daniel know it is going to be a moment before I can join him in the gardens? I don’t want to keep him waiting there too long,” Phil said as he turned to Natalie. “Natalie, could you find my kirtle and petticoat please?”

“Yes, m’lord,” Natalie said, getting up from her spot and using the wash bowl to rinse her hands. Phil inspected her hands after she was done. They were still stained but they shouldn’t transfer over any ink onto the fabric. Louise came back from the connecting door and helped Phil undress from his current outfit. Just shedding the warmer fabrics seemed to cool Phil. He almost wished he could run around in his smock and not have to worry about his dress but he let Natalie and Louise bundle him into the dress and fuss over him. 

“M’lord,” Natalie breathed. “It makes your cheeks glow. It’s a beautiful colour on you.” 

“Thank you,” Phil said, with a genuine smile. It felt good to be told by someone beautiful that something on him was beautiful; it made Phil feel beautiful by association. He twirled in the dress, just to get a feeling for how the fabric moved. It felt lighter somehow than his long shirt and his hose, even with the extra two layers. His legs felt like they could breathe. He gave another twirl and looked at Natalie and Louise. “Do you think this will be okay? Is it too much for a walk around the gardens?” 

“I don’t think he’ll be admiring your dress,” Natalie said, a confusing smirk crossing her face. Why was she smirking like that? Phil felt his eyebrows narrow in confusion while Louise smoothed his dress one more time. 

“I think he will be enchanted,” Louise said placatingly. “It’s almost fit for a portrait. Just missing some jewellery.” 

Phil turned to Louise touching his chastity collar. He couldn’t wear a necklace with the imposing sheet of metal wrapped around his neck, even if it did have engraving of vines on it. It was a beautiful chastity collar, but Phil wished he didn’t have to wear it. He’s seen how the ladies whisper at dinner, giving him a pitying look out of the corner of their eyes, Lady Corbin being one of the main ones. 

He didn’t want Daniel to look at him with a pitying look. 

“What kind of jewellery?”

By the time Phil made it down to the gardens to walk, he had on dangling pearl ear fobs and a matching bracelet that were a wedding gift from Queen Anne. He didn’t wear a necklace but Natalie had gently used some shoe polish to fill in the delicate engravings so they stood out more. 

Phil waved at a few of the gardeners who had talked to earlier in the week as he had been exploring the grounds as he made his way to the hedge maze. Daniel stood in front of it, looking impatient. Had Phil upset him by taking too long to get ready? Phil stopped walking and glanced down at the dress, suddenly feeling like he looked ridiculous. It was like putting a dress on a pig, Phil thought and wanted to turn back. He could say he caught ill. But then Daniel turned and looked towards him and Phil saw him smile. 

He wondered if there was a dimple there. 

Phil couldn’t turn back down so he continued towards Daniel, keeping his eyes lowered and demure. When he was close enough he watched as Daniel looked at him with the same look as their night together. Phil flushed and knew it would create splotchy spots upon his exposed collarbones and chest. He almost wished he had powdered that area so nothing would show. 

“Phil,” Dan said warmly but quiet, reaching out for Phil’s hand. Dan pressed a kiss to his hand and, before Phil could stop him, a kiss to the underside of his wrist. 

Phil could feel himself melting already as he stared into Daniel’s wild curls before Daniel stood up straight. “Daniel.”

“Oh, so I am to be Daniel today? Have I done something to displease you, husband?” Daniel asked, his tone teasing but his eyes stared into Phil’s with a quiet intensity that Phil was getting used to every time they talked. 

_Yes_ , Phil thought, a tad viciously, but shook his head. “No, Daniel, I’m content. Reading is such a beautiful castle.” 

Daniel frowned and Phil felt like he had said the wrong thing. How come he kept saying the wrong thing to him? He looked around nervously before his eyes caught on a nearby flower. 

“Could you show me the roses your mother planted? You mentioned them on our ride here and I wish to see them,” Phil said and was rewarded with a smile from Daniel, who offered his arm to Phil. 

“Of course,” Dan said. He led Phil towards (presumably) the roses his mother planted, which turned out to be roses of a mixed breed, with red tips and a white base. 

Phil leaned forward and smelt one, before turning to Daniel. “May I cut off a few blooms for my bedroom?”

“Of course, but I’m afraid I do not have a knife on me,” Dan said before beckoning a knight forward. Phil was surprised to see Christopher be the one to produce a knife, since he had not seen the other since the wedding, even though he was supposedly part of Phil’s smaller, personal household. He didn’t even know how to begin to address that issue or if he should. Surely there was no need for a guard at Reading and he had done fine with just him and his ladies.

“M’lord,” Christopher, facing Dan and bowing. 

“Thank you, Sir Christopher,” Dan said before handing the knife to Phil. 

Phil carefully held the stems of a few flowers and cut them loose. He turned and beckoned Louise forward. “I apologise, Lo-Dy Pentland. Mind your fingers; the thorns are sharp.”

“Yes, m’lord,” Louise said, laying them in the crook of her elbow where the thorns couldn’t penetrate the fabric. “Will you be cutting more?” 

Phil turned to look at Daniel to ask if he was allowed. “Daniel, may I? I miss having blooms everywhere.”

Daniel smiled. “Aye, you may but for each flower you cut, you must use my name.”

“Daniel?”

“No,” Dan said, smiling smugly. “Dan.” 

Phil turned and counted the three roses in Louise’s elbow. “Dan, Dan, Dan.” 

“You said it too fast,” Dan said teasingly. “That counts as one.”

Phil flushed and looked between Christopher and Louise. It seemed improper to be that familiar with the prince in front of others. He didn’t want to set a bad example for them after all. “I will use them later…Daniel.”

Dan gave a laugh and dismissed Christopher as he looped his arm through Phil’s again. “Are there any other flowers you desire?” 

Phil laughed. “There are too many options. I will wait until I walk by them and decide.”

“Well, let’s hope the flowers put on their best showing for you then,” Dan laughed. 

They walked through the gardens, Phil occasionally trimming flowers off a bush and handing them to Louise. But in between them, he asked Daniel how his lessons were going. Daniel frowned but went into detail about what he was learning. Maybe Phil would have to borrow some of the readings to fully understand them but he understood the gist of the theories.

At least one of them was having a successful week, Phil thought, his moment with Margaret the head cook flashes through his mind. He felt himself frown. 

“Have you seen the hedge maze yet?” Daniel asked as they paused in front of a long stretch of bushes that were taller than even Sir Christopher.

“No, I have not,” Phil responded, which was true. Phil had only seen the imposingly tall hedge maze from the window in his quarters and thinks he could solve it if given enough time. But he hadn’t walked through it when Johnathon, one of the gardeners, gave him, Louise, and Natalie, a tour of the grounds a few days ago. 

Dan smiled, looking a little mischievous at the crowd behind them, and leaned close to Phil. “Would you like to see it?” 

Phil also looked back at the mix of ladies and knights behind them. It would be nice to do something fun instead of meeting people all day. Maybe it would take his mind finally away from the disastrous meeting with Margaret earlier. 

“Yes,” Phil said as he turned back to Dan. “I would love to.”

Dan gave Phil a dimpled smile and gestured for a knight to come forward. “I’m going to take my husband through the maze. Please see that we are not disturbed.”

The knight looked like he wanted to argue but instead slumped forward and nodded. “Yes, m’lord.” 

Dan escorted Phil to the beginning of the maze, a path that opened up to two opportunities, and turned to him. “Which way are we going?” 

Phil thought for a moment. He had tried mapping out the maze from his window but it had been a ways away. He’s pretty sure it was a left? Or was it a right? He stood there debating it for two minutes before turning to Dan, trying to flutter his eyes the way he had seen ladies at court do when simpering over an alpha.

“Dan, what way do we go to start?” 

“It’s up to you, Phil,” Dan replied, a sly smile on his face. He knew what Phil was up to then. Damn.

Phil huffed and looked from either side again. He wished he had a ladder that he could use to look over the well-kept maze walls to help make his decision. Finally, he huffed and gave a noncommittal answer. “To the right?” 

If he was hoping Dan would correct him, he was sorely mistaken. 

“Lead the way,” Dan said and Phil wanted to stomp his foot a little at the unhelpfulness of it all. 

They spent the next half hour picking their way slowly through the maze, talking minimally. Phil would keep turning to Dan for advice but his husband wouldn’t give his input. It was like he was testing him. He was going to solve this maze and show Daniel that he could be smart, just like Natalie. Sure, he couldn’t read Greek poetry but he’d be able to solve this maze! Phil was so lost in his thoughts that he led them to their first dead end. 

“Oh,” Dan said, too calmly. “Better luck next time.”

Phil turned to Dan. “This is entirely your fault, m’lord!” He hoped his voice didn’t carry too far. 

“Ohohoho,” Dan laughed, his eyes twinkling in the limited sunshine that made it through the maze walls. “I have really upset my husband if he’s calling me m’lord.”

“I tried asking for help and I haven’t gotten any!” Phil said, resisting the urge, yet again, to stomp his foot. Instead, he unhooked his arm from Dan’s and turned away from him, stepping heavily (but not stomping; Mama wouldn’t approve of stomping) as he walked away. Phil walked back to their last turn and kept going straight, ignoring the way back to the entrance. He could hear Daniel walking behind him but he ignored him. 

This time the path opened up to another cross path, this time with three paths to choose from. This had to be a good sign. More opportunities meant they were trying to confuse them, right? And Phil felt tricked. 

How was he supposed to manage all these paths when he couldn’t manage a household?

Because it was at this moment when he knew he couldn’t fool himself any longer. Most of his meetings this week had gone like his one with Margaret; he was either ignored or treated as a burden. None of them had gone well no matter how hard he tried to convince himself they had. He did not even know if he had a steward of the household. 

His scent was starting to turn rotten. He took a deep breath and let it out in a steady stream before turning to face his husband.

“Dan, please…please help?” 

“What do you need help with?”

_Everything._

“I,” Phil’s voice cracked and, what felt like immediately, Dan brought him into an embrace. Phil pressed his face against Dan’s matching chastity collar and nearly started weeping. He was married to a man who didn’t want to mate him and had left him to flounder all week. Instead, he sniffled and clutched at Dan’s doublet. 

“What’s wrong, my omega?” 

_Everything._

_Nothing, I am content._

The two answers waged a war in his head and he realiszed he had not said anything. 

“Phil, darling,” Dan said soothingly, “we can leave the maze if it’s that frustrating. I just wanted you to have fun.”

_It’s not just the maze. Rather, it’s a different maze._

“No,” Phil muttered. “I want to see the centre.”

_I want to understand what’s expected of me._

Dan rubbed his back and Phil wished he could scent Dan better. Sure, he could smell his delicious scent, the notes of it unfamiliar and indescribable to Phil’s vocabulary, but he wanted to bury his face in his neck and _inhale_ because right now it just smelt comforting. 

“Okay, for that we’ll need to walk back a few steps. We got pretty lost in here,” Dan said with a laugh. Phil turned and looked at the three paths. 

“What about those,” he asked. 

“All dead ends, but that have statues in them,” Dan said. “They are a little weathered but still pretty to look at.”

Phil didn’t want to look at the pretty statues today. He wanted to see the centre of the maze and then go to dinner. 

“Can you please show me the centre?” Phil asked quietly.

“I can do that,” Dan said, slowly pulling away from Phil and holding out his arm. Phil slid his arm into Dan’s and looked around before slowly linking their fingers like they had walked around at their wedding feast. No one was around to see Phil be a harlot. Phil felt Dan’s eyes on him but he ignored it for looking around at the foliage. While the hedges themself were massive and imposing, there was the occasional pillar of flowers to break up the green monotony. 

“How did you get so good at this maze?” Phil asked, trying to ignore the way his hand was sweating against Dan’s. 

Dan laughed. “This maze actually used to terrify me. One time when I was little, I snuck out of bed at night and came in the maze without an escort. I was convinced the hedges were going to eat me alive, especially when my candle ran out.”

“That sounds terrible,” Phil said honestly. 

“Oh, it was. I refused to come in here for years, until my father wanted me to escort some dignitaries through here. I needed to know all the ways in and out of the maze so I memoriszed the layout,” Dan explained. 

“Will you teach me?”

“Of course. The centre of the maze is very serene. There’s a little pond there and a bench that is good for reading,” Dan said. 

Phil’s stomach twisted at the mention of reading, his thoughts going back to Natalie. “Did you read there often?” 

“Once I memorised the layout, I would come out here to avoid my tutors,” Dan said with a laugh, leading them down a different path. 

Phil furrowed his brow. “You would escape your tutors and still study more?”

“Sometimes the mind needs a break from statecraft,” Dan explained. “It’s why I’m walking today. I finished all my lessons for the week early because I wanted to spend time with my husband.”

“Oh,” Phil said quietly. And then I went and cried all over you, Phil thought guiltily. 

“I’m glad I did,” Dan said quietly, giving Phil’s hand a squeeze. “I’ve missed seeing you.” 

“You’ve seen me at dinner,” Phil said. 

“It’s hard to learn about someone at dinner. It’s always so loud and there are so many people,” Dan explained. 

Phil understood what he meant. At dinner, there was so much chatter and someone was always asking an opinion or cutting into the conversation Phil would try to have with Dan. They didn’t have the privilege of using the table on the dais for privacy, reserved strictly for when the king was in attendance, so they are among the other lords and ladies at the long tables set up in the dining hall. It was almost claustrophobic and he would appreciate the small times of privacy he was afforded.

In fact, Phil realiszed with a start, this was the quietest moment he had had since he had married Dan. Since then, it had been a flurry of being constantly surrounded by Louise and Natalie and others of the court while trying to get a lay of the estate. 

“Speaking of learning about my husband, what have you done today?” Dan asked, giving his hand a squeeze as he led him down another path.

“Oh, nothing interesting,” Phil answered. He didn’t want to tell Dan his embarrassing story of his interaction with Margaret. 

“I find that hard to believe,” Dan said with a smile. “I’ve heard you’ve been wandering the estate for days. Surely you’ve found something interesting?”

Phil flushed. “Well, I have been trying to get to know my household. This is a bigger estate than Rawstenwall so it’s taking me a bit but I’ve spoken to most of the gardeners, the servants of the hall, and the brewers.”

Dan paused in his walking and turned to face Phil, blinking and looking very confused. “Phil, have you been trying to speak to the whole household?”

“Yes,” Phil answered. “I’m expected to run it, aren’t I?”

Dan looked positively aghast. “No, not at all; that would drive a person mad. The only household you should be managing is your personal one.”

“My personal household?” 

Was there a difference? He was a prince and lived in the household so now the household was his to run, right? 

“Yes, just your personal household. Your steward, a secretary, our priestess, your ladies in waiting, maids. That’s why there are so many people here right now; they’re all currying to get favour with you to become part of your household.”

“But the cooks and the gardeners and the ale brewers - ” Phil started to say, feeling a cold pit open in the bottom of his stomach. 

“Are all handled by the high steward, who may come to you for advice, but you aren’t expected to handle everything yourself,” Dan said soothingly, rubbing a thumb over Phil’s fingers. “Didn’t your mother explain this to you?”

Phil shook his head. “She. She made it seem like I would be responsible for everything. It’s what she does at Rawstenwall. She spoke to the brewers and helped brew ale and knew the head cook and helped planned meals and...I’m not supposed to do that?”

Phil could feel himself shiver. 

Dan pulled his hand up by his mouth, pressing a kiss to his fingers. “No, you are a prince now, not a country lord. It’s a much different job.” 

Phil felt his eyes start to water. He was so embarrassed! He had spent a week not even talking to the right people! Now he was a week behind and that’s why there were so many people here and Margaret in the kitchen was overwhelmed. 

“Oh Phil, darling, don’t cry. You didn’t know,” Dan said, reaching up and wiping just beneath Phil’s right eye. 

“I was such a fool,” Phil whined before letting out a few sniffles. 

“It was an honest mistake,” Dan said. “It could happen to anyone.” 

All Phil wanted to do was hide in his bed under the covers until someone committed the next mistake then. “I don’t want to make that mistake again. Would. Would I be able to meet with the high steward and learn what’s expected from me?” 

(Gods, what was he supposed to do now if he wasn’t expected to run a large household?)

Dan looked at Phil and pressed a kiss to his cheek. Phil could smell his own rotten, acidic scent and thought Dan was brave to lean in and smell it to peck him on the cheek. 

“Of course you would. Do you still wish to see the centre of the maze? Are you too tired?”

Phil didn’t want to ruin what time they might have left together by admitting he felt a little dizzy from the emotional whiplash he had been going through over the past week. He wanted to see the centre of this maze and enjoy his husband’s undivided attention. 

“Not at all Dan,” Phil replied. “Lead the way.” 

Dan gave Phil a smile (no dimple, Phil noticed with disappointment) and relocked their fingers together, not bothering to go through the motions of linking their arms together first. He led the way and asked Phil about how he liked Louise and Natalie. 

Phil felt himself waxing poetics about Lady Pentland and not using as many compliments about Lady Wynn. He liked Lady Wynn well enough, he did, except for when she was translating Greek poems for his husband. Daniel didn’t mention it though so Phil felt safe in assuming he hadn’t offended the other. 

Dan paused around a corner. 

“Have we arrived?” Phil asked, excited to reach the end. 

“Yes,” Dan said. “Now close your eyes for me.”

Phil blinked but followed Dan’s command. He gripped Dan’s hand a little harder and let himself be led. It felt like hours with his eyes closed, but Phil knew it couldn’t have taken longer than a minute to reach the centre. He was led to a spot and Dan let go of his hand, making Phil’s heart start beating fast. Oh no, oh no. 

“It is okay, now open your eyes,” Dan whispered close by his ear. 

Phil followed his request and let out a delighted gasp when he opened them. “Oh, it’s beautiful!”

The water of the pond was still (and honestly, a little green) with a small bridge that arched over it. There was a bench near the pond and around the base of the bench and the pond were a multitude of flowers in different colours. There were statues sporadically around the space. Off to one side stood a massive tree that Phil hadn’t even thought to look for while in the maze. Under the tree, a small blanket was laid out with a basket waiting. 

Phil looked around in wonder and turned to face Dan. “Oh, this is glorious. I see why you would escape here. I want to come here all the time. May I come here to sew? It would be so peaceful and serene. Oh please, Dan?”

Dan gave a nod, biting his lower lip but a laugh still escaped. “Of course you can.”

Phil resisted the urge to pull Dan into an embrace but he did lean forward and press an excited kiss to Dan’s cheek. He walked away from Dan to explore the serene little space. By the time his eyes had drunk in their fill, he found Dan sitting on the blanket watching him, a light breeze blowing at his curls. Laid out on the blanket were a few pastries and goblets. 

Phil sat down and watched Dan to see if he would eat one of the pastries first. He always hated the rule that said the highest-ranking Alpha had to have the first bite, especially when Phil felt absolutely ravenous. 

Dan picked up one of the pieces of pastry and took a small bite before presenting it to Phil. “It’s too sweet for me. The cooks used too much honey.” 

Phil eagerly bit into the bread and felt like he was ascending. Too sweet? How could something be too sweet? This was _perfect_! Phil almost thought he could have slathered it in more honey and still not have been satisfied. He turned to look at Dan before reaching out for another pastry, one that looked to be different and presented it to Dan. 

“Alpha,” Phil said before feeling himself flush. Even though Dan wasn’t his alpha, the ingrained practise of offering food to his father that had the title slipping out. 

Dan didn’t seem to mind the title though. If he wished another was saying it, he didn’t say for Phil to stop. He beamed as if Phil had told him the best news and took a bite out of the pastry. 

“Much better,” Dan said after he had swallowed. “Thank you, omega.”

Phil would deny until his dying day that he felt his omega roll on its back at that moment, begging for attention from Dan. He wanted more praise. He looked through the small pile again and found another pastry that looked similar to the one he had just presented to Dan. Dan didn’t take the pastry though. He was staring at Phil’s face. Had he done something wrong?

“You have some crumbs on your face,” Dan said, reaching over and gently running his thumb over Phil’s face. 

“Thank you,” Phil whispered.

Dan smiled and popped his thumb in his mouth. “Sweet.”

Phil felt himself start to flush. There was something so…so intimate about the action that Phil was glad they were sitting alone. If anyone had witnessed that, Phil was sure he would fall over and whine in embarrassment from either the action or being a messy eater. “I thought you didn’t like sweet?”

“I can be persuaded in some cases,” Dan said. Phil smelt his scent coming out heavier. Headier. It made Phil’s head spin and he leaned closer into Dan’s personal space to get a better smell. He couldn’t help it; as an omega, he was more sensitive to scents than a beta would be and he wanted to know Dan’s scent as thoroughly as he would know the scent of someone in his family. He wanted to know all his scents; he wanted to know his happy, his sad, his anger.

“Oh?”  
  
“Aye,” Dan said, leaning forward and pressing his lips against Phil’s. 

Phil sighed into the kiss and nearly purred when Dan’s hand came up and cupped his cheek. He was being held like he was something delicate. _Desired_. But Phil’s omega wanted to feel Daniel’s warmth against him, the space between them feeling like Dan was on the other side of England instead of close enough to touch. Phil leaned into the kiss, putting a hand down to keep his balance, opening his mouth for Dan. Phil gasped as something wet touched his hand. He broke the kiss and looked down and noticed they had displaced the two goblets that were filled with mead or ale. 

“I’m sorry,” Phil said as he stood up and stepped back from the blanket. He looked down and noticed a stain was starting to form on his new dress. Oh, the laundress, when he figured out who that was, was going to be furious. Dan looked up at him, his face and his pupils blown. 

“Are you okay?”

“Just a little wet,” Phil answered.

“From only kissing? I knew you were a minx,” Dan said, his vulgar joke causing Phil to flush. 

“Horrible boy,” Phil muttered, staring at Dan. He bit his lower lip before apologising. “I’m sorry to have ruined this moment.”  
  
“You didn’t ruin anything,” Dan said, patting his lap. “Here is dry.”

Phil looked around. “Is that proper?”  
  
“We’re married,” Dan said, giving his lap another pat. “I promise it will be fine. We can say we were praying to Danu.”

Phil looked at him, folding his arms in front of his chest. “Are you sure you aren’t a heretic?”

“I promise I am not a heretic,” Dan said with a laugh that probably meant he was. 

Great, now Phil would have to pay extra attention to Hecate’s services to make up for his husband being a heretic.

“I don’t know if I should sit on the lap of a heretic,” Phil said, smoothing down the front of his dress. Phil watched as Dan’s eyes traced his hands over his figure, the younger male slowly standing up. “Husband or not. It’s just not proper you se - DANIEL!”

Dan had tugged him forward, not that Phil was putting up that much of a fight. Dan continued to tug at Phil, who couldn’t stop laughing at the playfulness, until Phil was firmly seated in Dan’s lap. Dan leaned forward and claimed his lips again and Phil opened his mouth for him. Dan’s hands came to rest on his hips. Phil gasped into the kiss, remembering the last time Dan had his large hands on Phil’s hips, how they had moved together in a mockery of what couples were supposed to do. Surely Dan didn’t mean to take him here? It may be his right but Phil didn’t want this to be his first time, no matter how kind Dan had been beforehand. 

Dan brought Phil out of his thoughts by biting down on his lower lip; not hard enough for Phil to bleed, but enough to say ‘ _pay attention to me._ ’ Phil ignored the thoughts in his head, warning him not to go too far here in public, and wrapped his arms loosely around the back of Dan’s neck, pressing himself closer to Dan and kissing him with more intensity. Dan hummed, hopefully in appreciation, and Phil’s inner omega preened. 

They kissed for a while. Dan’s hands would come up and touch at the edge of Phil’s collar and he wished he could feel Dan’s hand on his neck, touching a mating mark. Instead, he looked down at one point and saw Dan’s hand smeared with the shoe polish that Natalie had added to his collar from how often he had touched it. Phil twirled his fingers in Dan’s curls and felt victorious when a gentle tug caused Dan to rut up against him and kiss him more viciously. Phil felt his core growing warm and aching the longer they kissed, especially when Dan reached up and groped at his chest over the cover of his dress. Phil actually whined when Dan pulled away, his nipples feeling aching and unattended to. 

Dan’s lips were puffy and his pupils were still blown, but his eyes were focused on Phil. He dragged a hand down Phil's chastity collar and Phil shivered as if his own skin had been touched. 

“Probably,” Phil whispered back, moving to stand up. Dan yanked him back down and pushed his own cuffs back, revealing Dan’s bony wrists. He gently tilted Phil’s head to the side and rubbed his bare wrist against Phil’s collarbone and behind Phil’s ear, like he was smearing Phil in a perfume. 

“I want you to smell like mine,” Dan said, tapping his fingers against the chastity collar. “Just until this can come off.”  
  
Phil felt his heart flutter and his throat go dry at the thought. “When will that be?”  
  
Dan bit his lower lip and met Phil’s eyes. “Just a little longer. I promise. I just need you to trust me. Can you do that?”

Phil bit his own lip and winced. They were swollen from the amount of kissing they had exchanged. “Okay, Dan.”  
  
“Thank you,” Dan breathed out against his lips before pressing another, chaste kiss against them. “Okay, no more. I admit defeat.”

Phil stood up from Dan and helped the other stand up from the ground. He gave Dan’s hand a squeeze before letting go and gesturing at their ruined outing. “Do we need to clean this?”

“No,” Dan said. “One of the yard men will get to it. I promise.”

“Okay,” Phil said before linking his arm through Dan’s. “As long as you promise.”  
  
It took all of Phil’s mother’s lessons not to collapse on the ground in embarrassment when they walked out of the centre of the maze and there were two knights waiting for them.Phil was sure his upper chest was smeared with shoe polish and Dan looked _debauched_ with his doublet not laying as neatly as it had at one point and his curls absolutely wild.

God, everyone was going to think him a harlot, Phil thought as they walked out of the maze in silence. Being left alone with an alpha he wasn’t mated to was cause for gossip, but coming out of a maze looking wrecked like this? There was sure to be talk. 

But not for much longer, Phil thought, smiling to himself as he touched his chastity collar. 


	2. i do i do i do i do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Yours,” Phil answered, his hands resting on the bed on either side of Dan’s head. “Yours, alpha.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you profusely to [itsmyusualphannie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsmyusualday/pseuds/itsmyusualphannie) for betaing.

Phil didn’t know how he thought not being solely responsible for the household meant he was going to have free time. Over the next few weeks, as Phil started accepting more visits from the lords and ladies who had accompanied him and Dan to Reading, Phil felt like he was being drowned under a tidal wave of people that never seemed to stop. It started early in the day, with people waiting outside his chambers to walk with him to the daily service, and it ended at night when Natalie, bless her, would slam the door to his room with the excuse that Phil needed to ready himself for bed. 

There were just so many people, from alpha men wanting to become his steward all the way to male omegas who wanted to be maids, with other dynamics and genders interweaving into people hungry for a position in _ his  _ household. It made Phil’s head spin at the thought of that many people wanting to be under his untrained hand. Phil felt so overwhelmed with all the choices available to him that he felt a constant headache at the front of his skull. But he smiled through each encounter, gripping his hands tightly together and counting the hours until Dan was free from his tutors.

Phil smiled at the thought of Dan and let the fingers of his left hand trace the side of his chastity collar. The biggest change in the past few weeks was that Dan had spoken to his tutors and explained he was a married man now and thus, needed to give attention to his husband as well as his studies. Dan had told Phil about the discussion on a walk through the gardens, mimicking their facial expressions of shock so dramatically that Phil had laughed until he was doubled in half. 

(Dan may have crowded him into a tree after that, kissing him until he was breathless, but Phil maintains he was breathless from the laughter.)

“M’lord?” A female omega cut into his thoughts from where they were sitting in the dining hall in a circle, sewing. He had finally unpacked some of the bolts of fabric he had stored and was rapidly trying to create a summer wardrobe before he perspired enough to create a new lake. Louise had suggested that he take advantage of the large audience and have them sew his more common garments while he worked on the detailing. 

‘It’s a great way to bond!’ Louise had exclaimed.

Phil had been hesitant at first but Dan had also agreed with the idea when Phil brought it up on their second walk around the gardens. He had been nervous that the retinue would be insulted at the idea of performing such menial task, but Dan assured him that it wasn’t any different from what they would be doing if they joined his household. 

“Hmm?” Phil gave a distracted hum of acknowledgement. 

“I asked how the prince was, m’lord,” said the girl, Lady Howard, repeating herself. Phil liked Lady Howard; she had a sweet disposition for an older, unmarried girl. He was probably going to ask her to join his household, he just wasn’t sure as what yet. 

“He’s well,” Phil said, biting his lower lip and doing a horrendous job of hiding his smile. He stared into his lap as he listened to the group around him titter. 

“He’s going red! He’s absolutely flushed!”   
  
“Ah, young love! Aengus blessed!”

“What’s he like?” another lady asked. “He’s always so quiet at supper.”

“Or maybe it’s because you aren’t sitting close enough to listen,” another lady snipped at the one who asked. “He talks plenty to Sir Liguori.”

A male omega, whom Phil had been growing fond of, wrinkled his nose. “Those Italians.”

There went that fondness, Phil thought as he viciously pulled the needle through the fabric. Sir Liguori was kind, a funny joke on the tip of his tongue at any moment, and had been kind to Phil. If Dan wasn’t so fond of him, he would ask to trade him for Sir Christopher. Phil didn’t input his opinion on the matter though.

“What’s wrong with Italians?” asked a beta girl.

“Weird religion that makes them repressed,” the omega responded, his tone judgemental. 

“I wouldn’t say that,” Lady Corbin said, a sly smile crossing her face. It’s how she always smiled, like she was withholding a secret, and it set Phil on edge in a way he couldn’t articulate. “I met a few Italian men in the French court, always going on about romance instead of that stuffy religion of theirs.”

Lady Corbin looked across the circle and met Phil’s eyes. “So your husband...is he  _ Italian _ ?”

A couple of the older women laughed at Lady Corbin but Phil just felt confused. Had he missed something here?

“No?” Phil replied, setting the shirt he was working on down in his lap. 

“A shame,” Lady Corbin said with a laugh. 

Phil couldn’t wait to be free of her. 

“Stop baiting him for gossip,” Natalie cut in from next to Phil. “It’s uncouth.”

“I was just asking a question,” Lady Corbin said with a(n admittedly pretty) pout. 

Natalie snorted and didn’t dignify her with a response, causing the conversation to pause for a moment before Lady Howard hummed loudly before launching into a song.

Phil shot Natalie a grateful look when their eyes met and went back to sewing. But even as he participated in the more light hearted chatter going around the circle, his mind kept focusing on what Lady Corbin said. 

_ Romance _ .

Was Dan a romantic? They never escalated beyond kissing when they were able to find a moment alone but he also never invited Phil to spend the night in his chamber and they had been married a  _ month _ . His prayers to Aegnus went continually unanswered and he hadn’t prayed to Danu in a solid week. What was the point when his husband desired another?

Phil looked at Natalie out of the corner of his eye where she was sucking on the tip of her thumb. Natalie, as it turned out, was a struggling sewer who stabbed herself almost as many times as the needle went through the fabric. But even cursing under her breath, she looked beautiful with the light shimmering over her golden hair, causing her skin to glow instead of looking sallow. 

She never spoke of Dan to Phil but he knew she was still working on translating for him. It shouldn’t bother Phil as much as it did but gods, he wanted to capture Dan’s attention like she had. He wanted Dan to mate him, mark him. He wanted Dan to...to want him! Phil angrily stabbed the needle through his fabric and regretted it.

“Ouch,” Phil said, pulling his finger back and sucking on his thumb. 

“Oh, m’lord, are you alright?” Lady Howard asked from his right. 

“Yes, my hand slipped,” Phil said, pulling out his thumb and inspecting it. “No matter.”

“Oh, you’re bleeding,” Lady Howard said, pulling out a handkerchief and wrapping it around his thumb.

“Thank you, Lady Howard,” Phil said, flashing her a grateful smile. 

“Whoever said sewing was safer than swordplay can go rot,” Natalie mumbled from Phil’s left. 

Phil couldn’t help but laugh at the truth in that comment.

-

Another night passed where Dan did not ask him back to his chambers. He received a chaste kiss on his cheek and Dan promised they would spend time together tomorrow.

-

The solution to his Dan problem came to him in a dream a few nights later. Granted there was a monster taller than any castle in it and he was wearing a dress made of moss and spiderwebs, but the dream caused him to sit up in bed and turn to his left where Natalie was sleeping and shake her awake. He was lucky that he didn’t have to crawl out of bed to the pallet that Louise and Natalie took turns with.

“M’lord?” she answered.    
  
“I need you to help me.”

“Can’t it wait until the sun has broken the sky, m’lord?” Natalie asked, her voice sounding rough in the dark. 

“No. I need you to teach me how to make a man desire me. I want to bewitch a man.”

“M’lord?”   
  
“You’re very accomplished and men,” Phil held back mentioning Dan specifically, “find you very desirable. I need to know how to make a man want me.”

Natalie didn’t say anything for a moment. “Did I drink too much wine?”   
  
Phil huffed. “No.”   
  
“It feels like I did because it seems that m’lord is asking me, a chaste, upstanding woman, to help seduce someone,” Natalie said. 

Not someone, just my own husband, Phil thought as he bit his bottom lip in anticipation. Natalie let out a small sigh that sounded like the defeated ones his family would exhale when Phil became stubborn.

“Fine, I will help you, on one condition,” Natalie whispered. 

“Anything,” Phil swore. 

“Please wait until the sun has risen,” Natalie asked. “There’s nothing we can do now.”

“Thank you, Natalie,” Phil breathed. He really thought she was going to refuse to help him. He was elated and relieved.

Natalie turned away from him with a huff, mumbling something in a language he couldn’t understand, and presumably went back to sleep. Phil laid back down but the excitement sat there in the pit of his stomach as he drifted off to sleep hours later. 

He awoke later that day to the sun shining in through the window. He sat up in a hurry, looking around for Natalie. He found her sitting in her favored corner of the room, looking between two different pieces of paper before he heard the scritches of the quill as she wrote. The bed made a creaking sound as he moved and Natalie looked up. 

“Sleep well?” she asked, setting her quill down. 

“Too well. I missed service today,” Phil says, stepping over to the wardrobe and picking out a pair of hose and a long shirt. He looked at his clothing then back at Natalie’s. She was wearing a beautiful red dress with black detailing on it that made her cheeks look lively and lips kissable. 

“Should I wear red?”

“Hmm?”

“Should I wear red? Is that part of getting a man’s attention?” 

Phil watched as Natalie almost knocked over her inkwell. “I thought I had dreamed that moment.”

“Hmm?” Phil questioned, turning his head and looking back in his wardrobe, which consisted of a lot of blacks, golds, and whites. There was the occasional burst of colour, such as his green solstice dress, but he didn’t have anything red. 

Phil didn’t hear a reply, but he heard the chair scratch against the floor and Natalie’s dainty steps across the floor until she was standing next to him. 

“I said, I thought I had dreamed the part where you wanted to commit adultery,” Natalie whispered, looking back at the connecting door. 

Phil stopped, dropping the dress in his hand to the floor, and whipping around to stare at Natalie. His hands were shaking and he could feel the back of his neck heating up. He felt like he couldn’t breath. How could Natalie think he wanted to commit adultery? “I don’t!”

Natalie took a step back at Phil’s angry outburst, her eyes narrowing. “You said you wanted to seduce a man. Bewitch him.”

“Yes, my husband, not some random lord,” Phil hissed. “Do you think me some whore?”

Natalie held out her hands in a placating gesture, trying to take another step back. “No, no, of course not. Beg your pardon, m’lord.” 

_ Not granted _ , Phil thought as he turned away from Natalie and back to his wardrobe. This was fine, he could do this, whatever it was, without help. Maybe he could go to Lady Corbin and deal with her smug face as he asked her about the Italians and romance. Surely she would have advice. 

Mind made up he looked through the wardrobe again before settling on a pair of black hose and a white silk shirt. Maybe he could pin a rose to it so Dan wouldn’t think of him as homely? Phil sighed and looked down at the shirt in his hand. 

How could he compare in a white shirt?

“Do you have anything blue, m’lord?” Natalie asked quietly, peeking her head into the wardrobe. 

Phil glared at her profile for a moment before giving a defeated sigh. “Why blue?”

“Because it’s the prince’s favourite colour on you,” Natalie said, sounding confident in this fact like saying the sky was blue. 

“He doesn’t have a favourite colour on me,” Phil said, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion. 

_ He doesn’t notice me most of the time. _

“Yes,” Natalie said, pulling out a long shirt in a dark navy colour and holding it in front of Phil’s chest, “he does.”

“How would you know?” Phil muttered. 

“Because whenever you wear blue, he stares at you longer than normal. It is a shame you don’t have that dress from when you two met,” Natalie said with a sigh. “He came to his mother so besotted after that ceremony. He would not stop talking about you.”

Phil blinked. Why would Dan tell  _ Natalie _ about him? “I…beg your pardon?”

Natalie hummed as she helped Phil undress from his nightdress. “After that ceremony was over, he went to his mother’s chambers and pronounced that he had found his mate. It was very endearing.” 

Phil felt himself growing faint. Dan has tried to get his mother’s approval for Natalie? “But he already knew you. Why would he announce it then and not before? ” 

Natalie stopped moving, staring at Phil for a long moment before bursting into laughter. Doubled over, gasping laughter. 

“What’s so funny!?”

“I-it was not me, you idiot,” Natalie laughed out, reaching up and wiping tears away from her eyes. 

“I am not an idiot,” Phil said, crossing his arms over his naked chest. How dare she laugh at him?

“Oh, but you are!” Natalie exclaimed. “Did. Did you think this whole time, that Prince Daniel and I were lovers? That we were the new Genuivere and Lancelot, pining after each other?”

Phil looked away, biting the inside of his cheek. Well when she said it like that, in that mocking, condescending tone, yes, he did feel ridiculous. 

“Oh, Phil,” Natalie said, her tone much quieter and pitying than it had been moments before. She hesitated for a second before pulling him into an embrace. “I apologise for my teasing. I just cannot believe you have not noticed how much your husband wants you.”

“Then why will he not invite me to his bed?” Phil asked. His shame was gone at this point, he just wanted to understand. “If not you, is there another?”

“No,” Natalie said, sounding confident. “I do not know why Dan is keeping this chasm between you, but know it is not for the sake of another. You did not see him the day you met; he came in looking as though he had been struck to the bone.”

“Do you promise?”

“On my ability to write, I promise,” Natalie said before releasing Phil and stepping back. “So. Blue?”

“Blue,” Phil said in agreement, allowing Natalie to help him finish getting ready. When he was done, Natalie helped him style his hair and brought out a pair of sapphire fobs for his ears, a recent addition to his collection from Dan himself. She attached them to his ears and tilted his head side to side. 

“Do you ever use rogue, m’lord?”

“I only used it on our wedding day,” Phil said. Natalie hummed and walked over to her own trunk, pulling out a small container and pressing her littlest finger into it and walking back over. 

“Open your mouth,” Natalie instructed and Phil did. She smeared her littlest finger all over his lips and stepped back. 

“We will need to reapply this later but I think that Prince Daniel will appreciate this look,” Natalie said. “It draws attention to your lips. You are very lucky you don’t need to apply that horrid white face paint.”

“Thank you,” Phil said. “I just. I do not know how to get him to invite me to bed.”

“You do not wait for an invitation,” Natalie said, a smirk crossing her face. “You invite yourself into his bed.”

Phil felt himself freeze. Surely he couldn’t do that… he was supposed to wait for the Alpha to make the first move and follow his lead. “Pardon?”

“You’re going to invite yourself into his bed,” Natalie said, her voice unwaveringly confident. Was this the price of being learned as an alpha would be? That confidence? “I have devised the perfect plan. First step, we need to go to the kitchens.”

Phil felt his stomach flip at the idea of going back to the kitchens and having to face Margaret. He hadn’t gone back since his disastrous attempt to get to know everyone on the estate. Out of everyone at Reading, she still struck the most fear in him.

The things he did to make his marriage work, he thought with a slight sigh. “Lead the way.” 

-

The things he did to make his marriage work, he thought with a more hysterical tone, hours later. His stomach grumbled in hunger but he dared not touch a morsel of the food in front of him on the uncomfortable stone floor. His body ached from the pose he was holding and his upper legs were freezing from the very creative wardrobe change Natalie had made to his outfit. He was no longer wearing his hose and the navy blue long shirt was shucked up to show most of his upper leg and the edges of his smock as he laid on his side. 

Thankfully, the chamber was empty. Natalie had helped him bribe the valets that attended to Dan to make themselves scarce for the evening and they were ecstatic to take the evening off from work after performing a small action. Natalie, Louise (whom they had let in on the plan), and Phil had set up a small feast on the floor where Phil was now uncomfortably lounging, feeling more ridiculous every minute that passed and Dan wasn’t here. 

He had spent most of the day avoiding Dan as much as possible while also setting up for tonight. Natalie had said that it would “increase his desire” but Phil felt like he was playing a losing game every time Natalie made up an excuse for him. The feeling multiplied when Phil noticed Dan’s jaw tightening with each excuse over the course of the day. It made Phil nervous that this plan would not work and Dan would throw him out instead for being a liar. Would he enjoy this? Would Natalie’s plan work? One of the valets should have told Dan there’s an urgent matter that needs to be taken care of in his chamber; oh no, what if one of them walked in with Dan and saw Phil laid out like this. He would have to move to Italy and start over, Phil decided; Sir Ligouri had spoken so highly of Italy that he wanted to visit it. 

Phil jerked as he heard the door open, resisting every urge in him to grab the nearest blanket and cover himself up. He kept his eyes demurely lowered and prayed to whatever god may be listening to let the door be Dan. 

He didn’t hear anything so he let his eyes raise slightly, his heart about to thump out of his chest. He felt such a vast amount of relief when he saw Dan’s blank face that his stomach only fell a little. Did Dan not like this? Had Natalie’s plan been too salacious? He knew it had seemed so very unacceptable but he had felt desperate this morning and had gone along with it, but now he was regretting it. He should have known better than to do something like this. 

Phil finally looked up to meet Dan’s eyes. They were fixated on him. Phil felt himself start to flush the longer the silence went on. His thighs felt so cold but he didn’t dare push the fabric of his long shirt down to cover them. 

“Are you hungry?” Phil finally asked. 

“Starved,” Dan said, sounding as raspy as if they had just kissed for a half an hour, looking down at the feast they had laid out. It included most of Dan’s favourites, according to Margaret, plus a few treats such as fresh summer fruit. Dan walked a few steps over to a chair and sat down, undoing his boots. 

“Do you need help taking them off?” Phil asked, moving to sit up.

“Stay there, relax,” Dan said, his voice calm but Phil could see him gripping the heel of his boot so hard his knuckles were turning white. “I can get these off myself. Don’t tell my valets though; they’d be out of a job.”

Phil barked out a laugh before reaching with his right hand to cover his mouth. That wasn’t demure. What even was demure anymore? The word had been said to him so many times by Natalie that it had started to lose its meaning. But Dan was smiling at him so Phil lowered his hand and smiled as Dan took off his boots. 

Dan walked back over to the blanket they had set on the ground and sat on the clear space that was across from Phil. “So, is this what you’ve been working on all day?”

Phil hesitated. His tone didn’t sound mad or frustrated but that didn’t mean those feelings did not exist. “Yes. Is that all right?”

“I think it is a wonderful surprise,” Dan said, reaching out and dragging a few fingers across Phil’s cheek. “Thank you.” 

Phil felt himself smile as the finger touched his cheek and he struggled to sit up while still maintaining his legs being outstretched and on display. If this didn’t work, he was going to do… something to Natalie. Maybe make her sleep on the pallet for a week.

“Is there anything you want, Dan?” 

Phil looked at Dan and found Dan wouldn’t meet his eyes; he was staring at Phil’s exposed legs. 

Maybe this would work after all. 

“M’lord?” Phil asked, his tone teasing. “Anything you want?” 

Dan lifted his eyes from Phil’s legs and huffed. 

“You are not playing fair, you minx,” Dan said, before looking over the spread of food. “What did the good lady Margaret put together for us?”

“Oh, just some venison pie,” Phil started, pointed at each thing as he listed off, “turkey leg, a bit of roast lamb, mint sauce, some bread, marrow with toast, plums, and that sweet bread you mentioned. With the almonds baked in?”

“I hope you did not go to the market like that,” Dan said before staring at a clay vase that laid in the middle of everything. “And what is this? A wine?”

“No, ah, it’s hypocras,” Phil said. “So, better than just wine.” 

“You’re spoiling me, husband,” Dan said, his tone sounding fond, looking between the spread and Phil. “You do know the solstice has already passed?” 

“Aye,” Phil said, as he started to fill up a plate for Dan. “This isn’t for the solstice.”

“Then what is  _ this _ for?” Dan asked, reaching forward against and dragging a finger where the edge of Phil’s long shirt met his thigh. Phil shivers at the touch, wishing he could feel all of Dan’s warm hand upon him instead of just the tease of a finger. He paused in his plate making and looked at Dan, who was withdrawing his finger.

“Calm yourself, husband. Is it hard to believe I would want to spend an evening alone with you?”

Phil knew it wasn’t. They had mentioned plenty of times that they wanted to get to know the other better, outside of the loudness and tomfoolery in the great hall. Dan just didn’t know (yet) that Phil wanted to know him in the most ancient and primitive way he could as well. 

Or he might have a good idea, Phil thought as Dan’s face became more thoughtful.

Phil ducked his head as he presented Dan with a plate of food. “Alpha.” 

Dan took the plate from Phil and set it on the floor next to him. Phil felt his inner omega panic, thinking he hadn’t picked good enough pieces for Dan. Was he going to reject him? Was he going to tell Phil to get out? Oh, he knew this had been a bad idea - 

Phil felt his raging mind and his omega quiet as Dan leaned forward, nearly putting his hand in a plate of food, and pressed his lips against Phil’s. The angle was off but Phil’s omega rejoiced at the positive affection it was receiving. Phil leaned into the kiss momentarily, able to smell Dan’s scent and couldn’t help but be drawn in, before pulling back with some difficulty. 

“Dan,” Phil said gently, bringing a hand up to run across Dan’s left cheek. Phil watched as Dan’s eyes fluttered for a moment. “Your hand is about to land in the mint sauce.”

“Fuck the mint sauce,” Dan said, his eyes still closed, but he did move back into his seated position. He picked up his plate and broke off a small piece of food before eating it. He looked at the remaining empty plate and picked it up before starting to fill it up with pieces of food, even picking a few of the better pieces off his own plate. 

Phil felt his omega curl in on itself again, deep in his chest. He had chosen badly. He dropped his eyes away from Dan making himself a better plate of food until his sight was filled with the plate of food. 

“Omega,” Dan said, holding out the plate as an offering. Phil felt his heart twist for a different, more pleasant reason. Phil took the plate from Dan, tilting his face up with a pleased smile. 

“Thank you, alpha,” Phil said, quietly, as he took the plate. He watched as Dan started to eat before he started to eat as well. His mother would be so proud of his manners lately.

“So what did I do to deserve this spread?” Dan asked as he paused to pour them some hypocras. Even though omegas were allowed to drink beverages stronger than ale, it was considered ill breeding for them to pour their own cups. “I want to know so I can do it again in the future.”   
  
Phil laughed. “Nothing special, I promise. I just…”   
  
_ Wanted your attention. _

“Just wanted to spend time with my husband,” Phil finished lamely. Natalie hadn’t coached him on what to say, just told him to lie there and look pretty. 

For once, Phil seemed to have said the right thing because Dan’s scent came across much more...brighter than it’s usually heavier smell. 

“Well, it looks like I’ll have to surprise you next,” Dan said, a dimpled smile on his face. Phil wanted to touch that dimple with his mouth. Would Dan smile during their joining or would he be stoic? Would he want to face Phil or would he want Phil faced away on his hands and knees? Sometimes having an older, alpha brother was a curse, Phil thought as images of what their coupling could look like passed through his mind. He knew he never should have eavesdropped that day in the barn when Martyn bragged to the stablehand about a maid he had fucked (the word alone forcing Phil’s face to redden).

As it was his scent was coming out too sweet, smelling more and more like sugar than his base lemon scent. Phil could see Dan’s nose twitching at the smell and Phil felt embarrassed. Omega pheromones spread easier in the air than alpha pheromones, making it easier to attract a mate. The room probably reeked of him.

“Sorry,” Phil mumbled, looking down at his plate. 

“It is fine,” Dan said, but his fingers were clenched tightly around the fork in his hand. 

Did Dan even enjoy his scent? Oh bother, now it was swinging back lemony and acidic. 

“I didn’t realize you had such strong opinions about the food this evening,” Dan said, a twinkle in his eye. 

Phil huffed as he looked at Dan. “Well, it is not the main thing I want to eat.” 

The room was silent. Even the fire in the fireplace seemed to have stopped cackling for a moment. The room felt smaller and Phil’s body felt like he was standing in fire from how warm his body had gotten followed by an intense chill as Dan said nothing in response. 

Oh, he had messed up.

“I mean. Um,” Phil tried to backtrack and figure out what he could say instead but all he could do was flounder. He looked at anywhere but Dan, his scent smelling more acidic by the moment. He ignored all of Natalie’s advice and drew his knees up to his face so he was able to hide it better, letting out a groan. 

Phil heard shuffling and then some soft footsteps. Finally he felt fingers run through his hair until he looked up to meet Daniel’s eyes. Dan was kneeling in front of him, gently touching Phil’s face now that it wasn't hiding against his knees. 

“I didn’t mean to say that,” Phil said quietly.   
  
“Are you saying you don’t wish to devour me?” Dan asked, his voice a little husky. His scent was heady, clouding Phil’s judgement.

Phil's gaze traced over Dan’s face and stopped when it came to the chastity collar around Dan’s neck. He reached out and grazed his fingertips over the collar. “I do not think I am supposed to say if I do want to.”

Dan hummed. “And if I commanded it?”   
  
“You wouldn’t,” Phil said quietly. He barely knew Dan, but from what he did know of him, what he had seen of Dan’s interactions with others, he didn’t command people to do anything. He asked, but he was never heavy handed about anything. 

“I wouldn’t,” Dan agreed. “I would like to know though, if you’re willing to tell me.”

Phil didn’t say anything for a long pause, the only sound in the room the fire crackling across the room. Dan’s eyes were boring into his as if searching for the answer. Dan should know though, Phil thought. Phil had been so  _ obvious _ . His scent practically danced every time his husband came near, combining with his and making a scent Phil wanted to roll in for days.   
  
“I would like to very much,” Phil said into the stillness between them, his final word absorbed into Dan’s plush lips. Phil hummed into the kiss. He had gotten very good at kissing in the past few weeks and rather enjoyed it, thanks to Daniel’s tutelage. Dan pulled away from him and stood up.

“I would like to devour you too,” Dan said quietly, offering him a hand. 

Phil grabbed Dan’s hand with no hesitation and scrambled to stand up. Dan used the momentum to pull Phil close to him, pressing his lips up against Phil’s hungrily. Phil’s hands tangled in Dan’s hair (he needed a haircut soon, but Phil also liked the way it felt sliding through his fingers), tugging him closer. He wanted to feel Dan’s warmth all around him. Dan’s hands clutched at his shoulder blades before loosening and sliding his hands down his back, landing on his barely clothed arse and giving it a squeeze. 

Dan nudged against him until Phil started walking backwards, separating his lips from Phil’s when the clatter of a goblet rang throughout the room. They both watched as the spiced wine spread across the floor before looking back at each other.

Dan had a half-smile playing at the corner of his mouth that Phil wanted to kiss. So he did, leaning forward and pressing their lips together again until they were frozen in an embrace, kissing in the middle of Dan’s chambers. But Dan grew impatient again and started nudging him backwards until Phil’s thighs backed into the footboard of Dan’s bed, forcing him to sit down.

“I want to cover every inch of you in my scent,” Dan whispered. “It drives me to distraction. My tutors are worried I am becoming sick because I won’t focus on lessons.” 

Phil went easily as Dan gently pushed against his chest until he was lying back on the bed, propping himself up on his elbows to keep him from being entirely prone. His legs were still hanging off the bed but Phil didn't care because if Dan’s bed at The Tower smelled good, this bed smelled  _ divine.  _ It smelled so strongly of Dan that it had Phil rubbing his thighs together in anticipation. For the first time, he was able to pick up a hint of orange alongside Dan’s heavier base scent. 

He scooted back on the bed until he was comfortable, until it feltels like he’s better wrapped in Dan’s scent, his legs no longer dangling off the side of the bed. He looked at Dan, whose lips were a much brighter red than normal, and raised a finger to touch his rouged lips. They didn’t feel sore yet but Phil wanted that feeling. He wanted pained lips and Dan above him and them kissing and and -

He just wants  _ Dan _ . 

He met Dan’s eyes and held out a hand to him, his right arm struggling to support himself. “Will you join me, husband? Your bed would be more comfortable than a tree,” Phil said teasingly, remembering the walk from a few days ago where Dan had pressed him against a tree before kissing him, trapping Phil in between the rough back and his body. Louise had tutted because the back of his shirt had been smeared in dirt, but Phil hadn’t cared.

Dan snorted as he crawled up the bed until he was hovering over Phil. “It may be more comfortable than a tree but I need help getting out of my clothes to match you.”

“I’m wearing clothes,” Phil said, feeling himself flush as Dan’s hand landed on his leg and traveled up until it touched his bare thigh. Phil felt Dan quiver above him.

“Oh? Where are your hose then?” Dan asked, mirth clear in his voice. “Are they a new invisible type, unable to be seen by the human eye? Or flesh-coloured?” 

Phil didn’t say anything as he leaned up to kiss Dan, ignoring the collar digging in from this angle. Dan’s hand squeezed his thigh hard for a moment before sliding it away, resting it up by Phil’s head as he continued to kiss Phil. 

When they couldn’t breathe anymore, they pulled away from each other, sharing air. 

“Will you help me undress?” Dan asked, leaning back so he was kneeling on the bed. 

“Aye,” Phil said softly, sitting up. 

It took them a few minutes to figure out how to undo Dan’s doublet, but soon his chest was revealed. Phil ran a hand down Dan’s side, marveling at how warm the skin felt before leaning forward and pressing a kiss at the edge where the collar met skin. Phil felt Dan shiver, his hands tangling in Phil’s hair and Phil hummed at the sensation. Dan tended to never grip his hair tight when they would kiss; he treated Phil so gentle and  _ kind _ . Did he feel no romance, no passion for Phil? Phil pulled back from Dan’s collarbone and looked at him. 

“Devour me,” Phil whispered. 

Dan let out a breath of air and Phil found himself on his back, Dan above and passionately kissing him. Phil arched up into the kiss, tangling his fingers in Dan’s hair, trying to pull him closer. He wanted to be surrounded by Dan’s scent, be surrounded by Dan, period. Dan pulled away for a moment and Phil heard himself whine. 

“Shush, shush, it’s okay,” Dan said soothingly, leaning forward and sealing their lips together again. “I’m just thinking.”

“About what?” Phil asked. 

“How I wish I could mark you,” Dan said, looking down at the collar on Phil’s neck. He pressed a hand against the collar. “But soon.”

“Soon,” Phil agreed as a promise and used his fingers in Dan’s hair to pull him down towards him. He didn’t want to think about the collars right now, knowing it would lead him in circles as it had done plenty of other moments in the past month. He wanted to think about Dan kissing him, wanted to explore his husband’s body, have his own body be explored. 

He and Dan kissed for a while, their scents merging together and smelling like a sweet smelling citrus grove. Phil could feel himself starting to dampen in his core, especially when Dan would occasionally roll his hips down and against him. 

“Dan,” Phil whispered as they pulled apart to breath. “I am growing warm. Can you help me disrobe?”

“Of course,” Dan said, rolling to Phil's side. Phil reached out and touched a hand to Dan’s warm chest, not liking this separation. 

“It’s okay,” Dan whispered, pressing his own hand on top of Phil’s for a moment before letting go. “Sit up for me?” 

Phil sat up. Dan helped him take off his long shirt and smock. Dan was staring so intently at his chest that Phil reached up and covered his nipples, hissing at how tender they felt under his own touch. They also felt swollen there, a sign his heat was coming soon, possibly within the next week. He would talk to Dan about that later, he thought as he shyly met his husband’s eyes. 

“Now you?” Phil said, nervously removing a hand from his sore chest and running it down Dan’s hose enclosed legs. 

Dan obeyed, shucking his leggings quickly, and Phil felt powerful. Sure, it was just Dan disrobing fully, but Dan had done it because  _ he _ had asked. 

Phil took in the sight of Dan, including his cock, and noticed that it had not shrunk since the last time he had seen it. Dan probably did not need to wear a codpiece and that meant every time they exchanged kisses, this is what he felt against his thigh. How was that supposed to fit inside him? 

Dan leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Phil’s chest, making him gasp. Dan pulled his face back.

“Are you okay?”

“They’re tender,” Phil explained, not meeting Dan’s eyes. 

“My poor husband,” Dan said, before leaning down and capturing a nipple in his mouth, circling his tongue around it. Phil yowled and dug his fingers against Dan’s scalp. He didn’t know if he wanted to push Dan away or pull him closer. He settled on pulling him closer, hoping maybe he could suffocate him and make the pain stop quicker. Instead Dan sucked harder, causing Phil to whine louder. It felt like he had a line from his nipples to his core though because the longer Dan suckled on his nipples, alternating from left to right, Phil could feel himself starting to grow damp. 

Dan pulled away with a quiet pop and gave his right nipple a tender lick, causing Phil to squirm underneath him. 

“You wanted me to devour you,” Dan said with a half-smirk, his fingers moving down Phil's body until his fingertips rested at his opening. “Or did you want me to devour you elsewhere?”   
  
Phil squeezed his legs together at the  _ filthy _ implication. There wasn’t any way Dan was suggesting...he couldn’t be! “Where else can you do that?”

Dan’s half-smirk turned downright predatory. “Do you want me to tell you or show you?”   
  
Phil bit his lip, wincing at how tender it felt. “Sh-show me.”

Phil almost regretted his answer as Dan raised himself off of Phil and scooted further down the bed, making Phil’s chest and stomach feel cold at his absence. Phil watched as Dan made himself comfortable between his thighs, using his hand to push them farther apart to do so. Phil squirmed at the feeling of Dan’s huge hands on his thighs, but that was nothing to the feeling when Dan kissed him directly in the middle of his core. 

Phil wasn’t sure how he felt at the first kiss, but Phil felt his hand drop back as Dan kissed him again, wrapping a hand lightly around Phil’s cocklet and jerking upwards at the same time. 

“Gods,” Phil whispered as Dan continued to slowly jerk him, the kisses coming to a pause. Phil thought Dan had gotten bored and squirmed when Dan used his other hand to hold Phil’s hips still. 

“Relax,” Dan mumbled before licking a line from the bottom of his opening to the underside of Phil’s cocklet. Phil shuddered at the sensation of Dan’s tongue running against his cocklet and felt his legs stiffen as he resisted the urge to clamp them around Dan’s head to hold him in place. “You’re so slick, Phil. But I am going to make you wetter.”   
  
Phil shivered at the promise and ran a hand through Dan’s hair before gripping it tight as Dan made good on his words. Dan held his hips down and started to lick him like a starving man would lick the juice of a peach from his hand. Sometimes he would variate the speed and pressure, but he didn’t remove his face from between Phil’s thighs, even when Phil did lose control and squeeze his thighs around Dan’s head when the other inserted a finger. Instead, he paused until Phil loosened the pressure around his head and inserted a second finger alongside the first, curling his fingers until Phil whimpered. 

Dan pulled his face away from Phil’s core, licking his shiny looking lips. Phil knew his slick was sweet (every omega had surely tried it once during heat as Phil had), but Dan was savoring it like a dessert. 

“So sweet,” Dan said, echoing Phil’s thoughts and curling his fingers again in Phil. “Wanna eat you up.”

Phil whined at the sensation of Dan’s fingers inside him and tightened his fingers in Dan’s hair. “Please.”

“You want that? Want my mouth again?” 

Phil nodded. “Want you, alpha.” 

Dan relaxed his fingers and down to lap against Phil’s folds again. Phil groaned at the sensation, turning them into loud moans of pleasure as Dan combined the use of his tongue and his fingers. Phil arched against Dan’s mouth, wanting more, when Dan pulled away. Phil let out a long frustrated whine at that, which Dan laughed at. 

_ How cruel _ .

“It’s okay,” Dan said, rubbing a soothing hand over Phil’s belly. Dan removed his fingers from Phil and Phil felt empty. He felt so  _ needy _ for Dan. 

Dan crawled up and kissed Phil, causing Phil to make a grimace. Just because he knew what his slick tasted like, it did not mean he wanted to taste it. He could feel Dan’s hardness against his thigh. He was about to pull away when Dan pushed his fingers back into Phil, his channel slick and accepting them easily. Phil moaned at the feeling. 

Dan pressed his lips quickly against Phil’s again and traveled down, pulling a nipple into his mouth. The combination of pressure on his sensitive nipples and Dan’s finger searching inside of him made Phil jerk. 

“Fuck,” Phil cursed in the semi-quiet between them, closing his eyes as Dan curled his fingers again just right. “Please, please, please.”

Phil didn’t know what he was begging for. He just wanted more of the intense pleasure that was being given to him. It’s why he was so confused when Dan pulled his fingers out of him, Phil giving a choked-off sob at the emptiness that followed. 

“Shush, it’s okay,” Dan said, beginning to jerk his cocklet with his wet hand. Phil really should be more embarrassed about how much he had been leaking but he was chasing his own pleasure, thrusting up to meet Dan’s hand when he wouldn’t move faster enough. He could feel Dan rutting against the bed between his open thighs, so close but so far from where he wanted Dan to be. He felt so empty.

“That’s it, good boy,” Dan murmured before he reattached himself to Phil’s right nipple, giving it a vicious suck that made Phil gush. Dan moved his hand up and down Phil’s cocklet so slow Phil felt like he was going to go mad. 

“Faster,” Phil whined, yelping when Dan bit down on his nipple. “Please, alpha.”

Dan didn’t move his hand faster, but Phil still ended up finding his release moments later when Dan switched nipples and squeezed him just right on his cocklet. Phil felt himself let out another gush of slick as he shook, clutching at Dan’s shoulders. 

“Thank you,” he gasped as Dan gave another vicious suck on his nipple. Dan pulled away with a popping sound and met Phil’s eyes. 

“Was that enough to show my desire for you, omega?”

Phil blinked slowly, his whole body feeling heavy and sated. Was it enough though? Phil shook his head, squeezing his thighs together.

“Oh?” Dan said, sounding amused. “What else can I do for you?”

Phil snaked his hand between their bodies and wrapped his hand around Dan’s member, ignoring the uncomfortable angle at which his wrist was bent. “I feel empty.”

Dan gasped when Phil touched him, thrusting forward in Phil’s sweaty palm. Phil loved how Dan looked, hair wild and lips looking bruised. He was looking at Phil with wide, focused eyes. 

“Well, we can’t have that,” Dan whispered, scooting forward until he was kissing Phil again, his member pressing against Phil’s opening. The tip slid against Phil’s slick and Phil shivered at the feeling. “I want my omega to be satisfied.”

He wanted Dan to stop teasing. He wanted Dan in him, filling him up until he could scarcely breath. He let out a small growl of frustration that Dan responded to with a laugh.

“So impatient,” Dan said as he pushed himself to balance on one forearm. “What are we going to do with you?”   
  
_ Fill me up _ , Phil though as he watched Dan’s movements.  _ You could fill me up _ . Instead of answering, Phil arched up against Dan. 

Dan reached down in between them and ran the tips of his fingers against Phil’s folds. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Phil said, looking down between their bodies. He watched as Dan’s fingers wrapped around his member and lined himself up outside of Phil’s opening. “Please.”

Dan slid in the same way that he had been moving all evening; slow, even though Phil was more than lubricated enough for him to thrust in. Phil felt every movement and increase in pressure in his core as Dan pushed himself in. He felt himself tighten around Dan, almost instinctively, like his omega knew this was his mate and he needed to keep the other inside of him until Dan spilled deep inside. 

“Darling,” Dan said, his voice sounding wrecked. “I need you to breathe.”

Hadn’t Phil been breathing? He thought he had. He let out a deep breath and felt his body relax enough for Dan to continue to push inside of him. He grabbed onto Dan’s shoulders and whined, digging his nails in. He wanted more, nay, he  _ needed _ more. 

Dan hissed in his ear but Phil got what he wanted and Dan finally pushed the rest of the way forward, his hips flushed against Phil’s. Phil felt so full; this is what his body had been craving. He let out a sigh of relief that turned into a wince as Dan started to pull back. He dug his nails back into Dan’s shoulders and whined. No, no, Dan couldn’t pull out. This couldn’t be it! 

“My minx has claws,” Dan said, biting at Phil’s earlobe. It wasn’t light and teasing; it was a rebuke. Dan thrust back forward. Phil let out a yelp and glared at the ceiling. Dan pulled back from Phil’s ear, looking concerned. 

“Are you okay? Was that too rough?” Dan asked, running his thumb across Phil’s cheek.

Phil shook his head. “Just surprised me, m’lord.” 

Dan breathed harshly out of his nose, then pulled back and thrust back in again, repeating the rougher action a few times. Phil tipped his head back. “I. Am. Not. Your. Lord.”

Each word was punctuated by a thrust.

“Oh?” Phil panted, finding fresh skin and digging his nails in. He wanted Dan here, with him, not thinking of anyone or anything beyond their joining. “Then whose lord are you?”

Dan paused and met Phil’s eyes. Phil hoped he didn’t see the jealousy he was feeling in them. 

“I am not your lord,” Dan repeated, keeping his thrusts shallow enough that Phil missed the fullness. He whined but Dan refused to thrust fully inside of him. “I’m your  _ alpha _ .”

“Mine,” Phil hissed. It felt like his mind had been taken over fully by his omega; it felt warm and foggy like when he was in heat, like he couldn’t think rationally. 

“Yours, just yours,” Dan said before capturing his lips in a rough kiss and resuming his thrusting. 

Phil hummed into the kiss, biting at Dan’s lower lip. Dan was  _ Phil’s _ , no one else’s. He wanted people to look at Dan and know that it was Phil who had wrecked him, who bruised his lips, who made that delicious orange heady scent come out. 

Phil, who made Dan pop a knot. 

Phil had been able to feel the beginning of the knot for a while but now that Dan was fucking him, he could feel it most accutely, bumping against his opening at every thrust. Phil brought his legs up and wrapped them around Dan’s waist, using them to force the other closer to him. Phil gasped as he felt Dan’s knot enter him, his eyes closing momentarily in bliss. He had thought Dan’s cock inside of him had been full, but it didn’t compare to the way he felt connected to Dan like this. 

He listened to Dan curse above him, his thrusts becoming much more shallow because he couldn’t move far with his partially-inflated knot inside of Phil. Dan let out a growl, a soft vibration against Phil’s ear, and rolled them until Phil was sitting astride Dan. Dan’s head tipped back against the pillows while Phil squeezed around his knot at the new angle. 

“Fuuuuuck,” Dan groaned, thrusting his hips up against Phil. Phil leaned down and pressed kisses against Dan’s jawline, his movements taking longer each time Dan arched upwards and disturbed his movements. He ended up kissing the collar a few times. Phil glared at the collar and he pressed his hand against it. He hated these stupid collars. He wanted to sink his teeth in and claim Dan as his and to be claimed by Dan in return. He let out a huff and pressed his lips hard against Dan’s, who met him with equal passion. 

“Mine,” Dan whispered against Phil’s lips, his hips coming up in short thrusts.

“Yours,” Phil answered, his hands resting on the bed on either side of Dan’s head. “Yours, alpha.”

Dan didn’t last much longer before he convulsed, his knot expanding larger in Phil’s channel, plugging him up and ensuring his essence wouldn’t escape. Phil shivered and pressed his lips against Dan’s, not as intense as previous kisses. Dan’s hands moved from his hips to Phil’s back, running in lazy lines up and down the pale skin. 

“We probably should have done this under the blankets,” Dan mumbled. “You feel so cold.”

“I do not feel cold,” Phil said, huffing when his attempt to cuddle closer to Dan’s warmth was thwarted by the damned collar. He gave a small shiver and Dan wrapped his arms around him. Phil gave a content hum. 

“What do you feel then?” Dan asked.

Phil thought about it. That underlying itch that had been there since they had married had been scratched. He felt close to his husband. He felt full and safe with Dan’s chest warm underneath him. “Happy.”

“Oh?” Dan said. “Maybe we have found our new favourite bonding activity.”

Phil laughed. “I fear the flowers will miss us.”   
  
“Oh, we don’t have to be confined to my chambers to do this,” Dan said, grunting as Phil’s walls clenched around his knot at the suggestion. 

“You are a pervert,” Phil said with a smile. “A pervert and a heretic.”   
  
“Aye, but I am not the one who nearly snapped my cock off at the suggestion,” Dan said. Phil felt his face growing flushed at the reminder. 

“I’m not a pervert,” Phil huffed. 

“Whatever you say, husband,” Dan said, rubbing his hands over Phil’s back. “I will just have to keep an eye out for my own virtue.”

Phil huffed and went to roll off Dan, letting out a pained noise when he couldn’t move. He was stuck in place. 

“Are you alright?” Dan asked, tilting Phil’s face towards his, his brown eyes wide as he searched Phil’s face. “Are you hurt?”   
  
“No,” Phil said, rubbing a thumb over Dan’s cheek. “I am fine.”

Phil let out a small yawn.

“Rest,” Dan said, his fingers coming up to run through Phil’s hair. 

Phil wanted to argue with Dan but all that came out was another small yawn. He moved carefully, trying to find a comfortable way to lay across the other. It would be so much easier without these cursed collars on, Phil thought as he found a semi-comfortable position. If there weren’t these collars, he could bury his face in Dan’s neck and inhale his delicious scent. 

Phil closed his eyes in some comfort and felt Dan’s chest rise and fall beneath him. Dan’s chest was sweaty but Phil found it easy to not care while Dan ran his fingers through Phil’s hair. Phil let himself match his breathing to Dan’s, humming when Dan would scratch at a bit of his scalp. They laid like that for a while until Phil felt the weird position he was spread in start to be uncomfortable. 

“How much longer?” Phil asked.

“It’s already softening,” Dan answered. 

Phil swivelled his hips to check for himself. It wasn’t a hard mass like it had been earlier but it was still too full for Phil to roll off without injuring himself. Phil sat up from his spot on Dan’s chest, ignoring Dan’s grumbling and pressed a hand to Dan’s collar.

“And for these?”   
  
Dan let out a sigh and placed his hand flat on Phil’s stomach. “Hopefully not for much longer.”

What was Dan waiting for? Was there a specific date or moment he was waiting on? Was there something Phil needed to do? Phil bit his lower lip and wiggled his hips again, needing some way to let out the nervous energy that was building up in him. Dan groaned and moved to grab Phil’s hips.

“Keep doing that and it will be longer,” Dan said, his voice sounding threatening. 

“Oh?” Phil said with a laugh.

“Aye,” Dan said with a smirk. “Keep that up and you’ll be knotted to me forever. We will never be able to leave this bed and we shall starve.” 

“Are you saying you cannot carry me over to our picnic?”

Dan sat up carefully and eyed the distance from the bed to the spread of food. “No, I can’t do it. We will starve and people will write bawdy songs about Prince Daniel and his minx of a husband who fucked themselves to death.”

Phil tipped his head back with a laughter that shook through his body. “Oh aye, a song of the heretic and the saint.”

“You are no saint,” Dan said, sitting up and nipping the edge of Phil’s jawbone. 

Phil felt himself clamp down against Dan’s shrinking knot. “Oh?”   
  
“Aye,” Dan answered. “You are temptation personified.”

Phil flushed, feeling his chest grow warm again. All of him felt warm and needy. He definitely was in pre-heat. “May I tempt you once more husband?”

Dan carefully rolled them over so that he was leaning over Phil. “I think that can be arranged, minx,” Dan said before sealing their lips together.

-

Hours later, Phil lay on the bed with a pout on his face. Dan had gotten up when he took a nap after the third coupling and brought their plates on to the bed. Phil wanted to sit up but their third coupling had been particularly rough and it hurt to be in any position than the one he was in now. His core felt achy and used, a bit of Dan’s essence spilling out the entrance. He wished momentarily that Dan was still in him to prevent the tacky discomfort of his essence hardening. 

His main issue was that instead of being able to sit up and eat properly, he was laying on his stomach, distracted by his aching teets. He was picking at the food with his fingers and trying not to spill anything on the already messy sheets. He had already spilt a bit of mint jelly so he was doing his best not to drop anything else and draw Dan’s attention to his predicament. 

He must have been doing a terrible job hiding his discomfort, since Dan reached over and ran the back of a finger down Phil’s cheek. “Is it not to your liking? Is there something else you crave?”   
  
“No, no, it tastes wonderful,” Phil hurried to say. “I’m just uncomfortable.”   
  
Dan stopped putting food in his mouth at that. “What is wrong? Is there anything I can do.”   
  
“Nothing is wrong. My chest is tender,” Phil whispered the last part, feeling like he was divulging a huge secret. Why was it so much easier to say this earlier? maybe it’s because he actually had to explain why it mattered. “It means that my heat is approaching.”

Dan put down the food that was in his hand and turned his full attention to Phil. “How long until it arrives?”   
  
“A week, but not much more,” Phil said, wiggling on the bed to get more comfortable. He winced at the feeling of his aching, chaffed feeling cocklet rubbed against the sheets. Gods, that last coupling had taken a lot out of him. He was going to be able to sleep until his heat at this rate. 

“Hmmm,” Dan said, before picking up a piece of plum and presenting it to Phil’s mouth. “Will there be anything we require?”   
  
Phil chewed on the piece of plum as he considered it. We? Did Dan intend to spend his heat with him? “More pillows?” Phil suggested tentatively. 

“Consider it done,” Dan said easily. “Do we need food brought to us?”   
  
“I would prefer not,” Phil said, his chest warm at the use of  _ we _ again. Or maybe it was the idea of one of the serving betas (or heaven forbid, a serving omega) coming into his nest that raised his hackles. They might touch something. 

“Okay, we’ll stock up on dried meats then,” Dan said, holding out another piece of plum to Phil. “Would you like to be in here or in your chambers? Or another room altogether?”   


“In here,” Phil said with no hesitation before taking the piece of fruit. He wanted to be surrounded by Dan's scent, not somewhere that didn’t smell like either him or Dan. He also would feel bad if Natalie and Louise had to find somewhere else to sleep for the next week while he became unbearably territorial about his chambers.

“May...May I sleep in here over the next week? To make it smell more like me?”

Dan smiled at him and leaned down to press a quick kiss to his lips. Phil felt the trendles of desire at the edge of his conscious. But he was not about to ask for a fourth round. He wasn’t. 

“Of course. Your wish is my command.” 

(Dan probably regretted that phrase because after they were finished eating, they went for a fourth coupling.) 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really thought minx was a cute nickname. The audacity.
> 
> I also just want to state that I swear I don’t hate Italians. I just wanted to capitalize on growing anti-catholic rhetoric that was growing at the time period this is roughly placed in. To talk to me more about it, come visit me at my tumblr [here](https://filisaceaf.tumblr.com/).

**Author's Note:**

> i feel the need to clarify; in my version of this au, you can be married but not bonded or mated until you exchange a bite with your partner. it can happen where they delay bonding/mating but usually it is performed at the wedding, so phil is getting a lot gossip around him being an unmated husband. if you're interested in my world building, hit me up [here](https://filisaceaf.tumblr.com/). i swear i don't bite!


End file.
